Annoyance

About: Annoyance is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2015 publications have been published within this topic receiving 38300 citations. The topic is also known as: annoy.

Health effects of annoyance induced by neighbour noise

Abstract: Traffic noise (road noise, train noise, flight noise, noise of parking cars), is the most dominant source of annoyance in the living environment for many people living in European countries. This is followed by neighbour noise (neighbouring apartments, staircase, playing children and noise within the apartment). The subjective experience of noise stress can, through central nervous processes, lead to an inadequate neuro-endocrine reaction and finally to regulation diseases. Within the context of the WHO-LARES-survey, annoyance induced by neighbour noise was collected and evaluated in connection with reported medically diagnosed illnesses. Adults who indicated chronically severe annoyance by neighbour noise were found to have an increased health risk in the cardio-vascular system, the movement apparatus, as well as increased risk of depression and migraine. With regards to elderly people there is generally a lower risk of noise annoyance induced illness than in other adults. It can be assumed that the effect of noise induced annoyance in older people is concealed by health consequences of age (with a strong increase of illnesses). With children, the effect of noise induced annoyance from neighbour noise is most evident in the respiratory system. The increased illness risks in the respiratory system in children do not seem to be caused primarily by air pollutants, but rather, as a result of emotional stress. Neighbour noise induced annoyance is therefore a highly underestimated risk factor for healthy housing.

Growth rate of loudness, annoyance, and noisiness as a function of tone location within the noise spectrum

Abstract: The relation between overall perceived magnitude (loudness, annoyance, and noisiness) of noise‐tone complexes and the location of the tone within the spectrum was investigated by absolute magnitude estimation (AME). Single tones at 250, 1000, 2000, and 3000 Hz were added to low‐ and high‐pass noises. In contrast to noisiness, loudness and annoyance growth behavior depends on the relationship between the frequency of the added tone and the spectral shape of the noise. Tones centered in noise produce nonmonotonic loudness and annoyance growth functions; those added to the skirt produce power functions. The measured exponents are invariant across tone‐to‐noise ratio when the tones are positioned within the spectrum, but not when they are added to the skirt. Moreover, for complexes at approximately the same overall SPL, the tone’s position determines the functional relationship between loudness (or annoyance) and tone‐to‐noise ratio. Although a tone correction for annoyance is warranted for certain noise‐tone configurations, none of the proposed calculation procedures considers all the variables relevant to perceived annoyance of tonal components. To a large extent, complex auditory interactions generated by the simultaneous presentation of noise and tone can account for the observed effects.

Noise annoyance from stationary sources: Relationships with exposure metric day-evening-night level (DENL) and their confidence intervals

Abstract: Relationships between exposure to noise [metric: day-evening-night levels (DENL)] from stationary sources (shunting yards, a seasonal industry, and other industries) and annoyance are presented. Curves are presented for expected annoyance score, the percentage "highly annoyed" (%HA, cutoff at 72 on a scale from 0 to 100), the percentage "annoyed" (%A, cutoff at 50 on a scale from 0 to 100), and the percentage "(at least) a little annoyed" (%LA, cutoff at 28 on a scale from 0 to 100). The estimates of the parameters of the relations are based on the data from a field study (N=1875) at 11 locations (2 shunting yards, 1 seasonal industry, 8 other industries) in the Netherlands. With the same (yearly) DENL, the seasonal industry causes less annoyance than the other industries, while the other industries cause less annoyance than the shunting yards. It appears that annoyance caused by vibrations from shunting yards and annoyance caused by noise from through trains are (partly) responsible for the relatively high annoyance from shunting yards. The relatively low annoyance from the seasonal industry presumably is related to the presence of a relatively quiet period. Results for the two shunting yards and the seasonal industry are based on fewer data than the other industrial sources, and are indicative. The same patterns of influence of age and noise sensitivity that are generally found are also found in this study. For comparison, results regarding transportation sources are also given, including previously unpublished results for expected annoyance. © 2004 Acoustical Society of America.

Trait anxiety and modeled exposure as determinants of self-reported annoyance to sound, air pollution and other environmental factors in the home.

Abstract: We examined to what degree annoyance ratings to noise, air pollution and other common environmental factors in the home environment could be considered to mirror personality disposition in terms of habitual anxiety level and, when appropriate, objectively modeled noise and nitrogen emission (NOx) A trait anxiety scale was introduced in a cross-sectional public health survey with 2,856 respondents Of these, 705 had self-reported asthma and the rest constituted gender-matched referents Annoyance to ten specific factors in the residential environment, mainly focusing on source-specific noise and air pollution, was assessed on a six-point likert scale A-weighted energy equivalent continuous sound pressure level during a full day (24 h; L Aeq,24) as well as annual average NOx levels (μg/m3) at the residential address were modeled with high resolution, using a road data base and a detailed emission data base for NOx The two most prevalent complaints were annoyance to traffic noise and sounds from neighbors, which was reported by about 8% of the participants Unadjusted logistic regression analyses using the continuous trait anxiety score as a predictor showed positive associations with ratings of annoyance from total traffic noise, sounds from neighbors, sound from ventilation, exhaust fumes from traffic, sounds from other installations, and vibrations from traffic (ORs between 137 and 214) Modeled noise and NOx exposure were positively related with annoyance to traffic noise and exhaust fumes, respectively Adjustment of the trait anxiety scores for other individual characteristics and potential determinants did not change the overall pattern of results Trait anxiety scores were often mirrored in ratings of annoyance, which suggests caution when using annoyance reports either as a surrogate measure for environmental exposure on the individual-level in epidemiologic studies or when studying the moderating effects of annoyance on health outcomes